Family life devastated by drink as children left to go hungry
ALCOHOL abuse in the home can have a devastating impact on family life and leave children without food, according to a new report.
A wide-ranging HSE study also shows how the misuse of alcohol brings danger to the country’s streets, with one-intwo people reporting they suffered harm due to a stranger’s drinking in the past year.
It also found one-in-seven employees is affected by a colleague’s hangovers and absenteeism.
The report found 3pc of families had “gone without food” due to a parent’s drinking.
The HSE report, ‘The Untold Story; Harms Experienced in the Irish Population Due to Other’s Drinking’, estimated the cost of our nation’s drinking habit is a massive €863m across the economy.
“The survey results did not estimate the intangible cost of fear, pain, suffering and lost quality of life of alcohol’s harm to others. But these are clearly substantial,” it said.
The troubling statistics showed one-in-10 adults reported children for whom they had parental responsibility suffered harm because of another’s drinking.
These include a child being verbally abused, left in unsafe situations, witnessing serious violence in the home and being physically attacked.
Children from the least welloff homes or families where there is separation are most affected. Two-in-five people surveyed reported injury from a known drinker such as a family member or friend.
This included arguments and harassment.
More women than men reported stress, family problems, feeling threatened at home, depression or having financial problems due to a known drinker, according to the authors Dr Ann Hope, Prof Joe Barry and Prof Sean Byrne.
One-in-seven employees say alcohol is affecting their workplace.
It means they are having to cover for colleagues who are not turning up or under-performing by working extra hours.
Risky drinking in Ireland is the dominant pattern among young adults. “Therefore harm from strangers’ drinking is more possible,” it said.
The risks from strangers’ drinking range from being kept awake at night to being harassed on the street, to feeling unsafe in a public place.
The more extreme impact is felt in a physical attack or traffic accident.
Launching the report, Robin Room, professor of alcohol policy research at the University of Melbourne, said: “For many years the focus was on the harms suffered by the drinker.
“However, we have been missing the burden that occasional or regular heavy drinking imposes directly on others.”
Dr Hope said the risk of harm from others’ drinking was “widespread in Irish society, with some of it hidden”.
The damning report comes as the long-delayed Public Health Alcohol Bill has still to get to committee stage in the Oireachtas.
“The principal measures of the proposed bill will encourage a modest reduction in alcohol consumption and lessens the alcohol harms being experienced by so many in society,” said Alcohol Action Ireland.
However, there is increasing fears it will be watered down even further.
It has already been strongly diluted as a result of lobbying by the drinks industry and other vested interests.
Health Minister Simon Harris promised to make it a priority.